1.15: Heure Semaine Mois Saison Date

Telling time

Knowing how to tell time in French is essential for traveling, meeting up with friends, making appointments, and getting to work or school on time. Once you learn these formulas, you’ll never have an excuse to be late again!

To ask what the time is in French, the phrase you’re looking for is:

❑ Quelle heure est-il ? What time is it?

But one of the other ways to ask for the time in French, particularly if you’re addressing a stranger, is to say:

❑ Excusez-moi, est-ce que vous avez l’heure, s’il vous plaît ? Excuse me, do you have the time please?

So, how should you respond if someone asks you quelle heure est-il ? The phrase you will need is: il est… which means ‘it is’ followed by the hour. Below, you’ll find some of the essential vocabulary you’ll need to ask for and tell the time in French.

To abbreviate a time in French, don’t use a colon between the hour and minutes like in English. Instead, use the letter h (for heure), like this: 8h10 (8:10).

French has specific words for noon and midnight: midi (noon) and minuit (midnight). Those two words are used without saying heures. For example: Il est minuit. Tout le monde au lit! (It’s midnight. Everybody to bed!)

Practice

How to express AM – PM and military time in French “heure officielle”

In France, as well as most other European countries, time is usually expressed on a 24-hour clock (what we in the United States generally refer to as “military time”). The 24-hour system is called “L’Heure Officielle” in French. It is especially used in public announcements such as timetables, bus/train/plane schedules, movie/television/radio listings, sporting events, and business hours of operation.

▫︎ 14h50 ☞ quatorze heures cinquante

When indicating 12-hour clock times (as we usually do in English), you will use such phrases as:

▫︎ du matin – a.m. ☞ dix heures du matin 10a.m.
▫︎ de l’après-midi – p.m. (from noon until 6:00p.m.) ☞ trois heures de l’après-midi 3p.m.
▫︎ du soir – p.m. (from 6:00p.m. until midnight) ☞ sept heures du soir 7p.m.

☞ Je travaille à 9 heures du matin. I work at 9a.m.

Practice

However, these phrases above are not used when expressing time according to the 24-hour system.

With the 24-hour clock, the words minuit, midi, quart, and demi(e) are not used, and the number of minutes is expressed by a full number. Unlike in the 12-hour system, minutes are never subtracted from an hour in the 24-hour system. Instead, minutes are always added to the hour.

▫︎ 14h50 ☞ quatorze heures cinquante

Les jours de la semaine

In French language, the gender of the days of the week is masculine. Unlike in English, days are not written with capital letters. The same goes for the months of the year.

It’s important to note that in general they are not used with articles when they indicate a date.

☞ Aujourd’hui nous sommes lundi. Today we are Monday.

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But when they express something frequent or usual, we add the article “le”.

☞ Le samedi, je vais au parc avec mes enfants. On Saturdays, I go to the park with my children.

Which day of the week is it today?

If you want to ask which day of the week it is, you just say :

• On est quel jour aujourd’hui ? (informal)
• C’est quel jour aujourd’hui ?
• Quel jour sommes-nous aujourd’hui? (formal)

The answer will be :

• Nous sommes mardi.
• On est mardi.
• C’est mardi.

How to say morning, afternoon or evening

As in English, days can be divided into several parts :

• le matin : morning
• midi : noon
• l’après-midi : afternoon
• le soir : evening
• la nuit : night
• minuit : midnight
• le week-end : week-end.
• la matinée : morning time
• la journée: daytime
• la soirée : night time

​​Example :

• Le matin, je fais du sport. In the morning, I exercise.
• À midi, je déjeune avec mes collègues. At noon, I have lunch with my colleagues.
• Le soir, je rentre à la maison. In the evening, I return home.

The days before and after today

Today is translated as aujourd’hui in French. Let’s start with the days before today.

• hier : yesterday
• avant-hier : the day before yesterday
• dernier/dernière : last ☞ lundi dernier : last Monday

​Let’s see how to say the days after today

• demain : tomorrow
• après-demain : the day after tomorrow
• prochain(e) : next ☞ mardi prochain : next Tuesday

The 12 months of the year in French

Le mois is the equivalent word for the month.

When expressing a specific month, the preposition “en” is used in front of the month.

☞ Je nage beaucoup en juillet. I swim a lot in July.

Note: unlike in English, the months are not capitalised in French.

The 4 seasons in French

The French translation of a season is une saison.

In general, the preposition “en” is used with months and seasons.

☞ Nous sommes en février. We are in February.
☞ Il fait froid en hiver. It is cold during winter.

However, an exception applies with spring, instead of “en“, the preposition “au” is used.

☞ Nous sommes au printemps.We are in Spring.

The date in French

​Date in French is exactly the same word as in English with a different pronunciation. If you’re wondering if it is feminine or masculine, then keep in mind that we say une date.

☞ Quelle est la date d’aujourd’hui ? What is today’s date?

To tell the full date in French, use : date – month – year.

☞ Nous sommes le 30 janvier 2021. We are January 30th, 2021.​

Notice that instead of using ordinal numbers for expressing the date, French people use cardinal numbers, except for the 1st of the month (le premier).

☞ Le premier janvier est le premier jour de l’année. January 1st is the first day of the year.